Coordination on compromise
Ford workforce clears away for austerity course
Ford cars are bought again more often, but the numbers are still low. The carmaker continues to save, many jobs should be eliminated. Now the workforce was asked if it was going to be with you.
The workforce of the Cologne Ford-Werke has cleared the way for a hard austerity and personnel reduction. A coordination showed an approval of 93.5 percent for a compromise that the IG Metall union and the management had agreed in July.
By the end of 2027, 2,900 jobs will be dismantled – about every fourth. Most recently it was 11,500. The employees who go voluntarily get quite high severance payments. If your workplace is relocated because the division is given and continued by another company, you should not be worse off. There is also the possibility of partial retirement and financial collateral from the US mother group, which also benefit pensioners. For the time being, it is dispensed with operational dismissals, but in the extreme case they are possible.
IG Metall reacted relieved to the significant approval of the compromise package that had negotiated it. “In a very difficult situation, we have agreed for the employees the best possible safety net that applies by the end of 2032 and thus offers financial security,” said IG Metall spokesman for Ford works, David Lüdtke.
The management also evaluated the result positively. “This is a positive step forward, which offers our employees in Cologne the necessary clarity and security,” said a company spokesman. “It enables the company to implement our restructuring plan socially acceptable and to build up a future -oriented and cost -efficient company in Europe.”
After the green light by the workforce, the management and employee side still have to sign corresponding contracts and agreements, which is considered a matter of form. In the coming months, the works council and management will discuss the details of the austerity course, about which position should be eliminated when.
The centerpiece of the agreement is a security network of the US mother that is supposed to protect the workforce from a theoretically possible bankruptcy of the Germany daughter. If this actually occurs -at the moment this is pure theory -the employees concerned would get money from the US mother group.
Ford is under pressure, the sale of new electric vehicles from Cologne is below expectations. Most recently, the sales figures for Ford car in Germany attracted a low level. Since the beginning of the year, the Ford car market share in Germany has increased from around 3 to 4.5 percent.
dpa
Source: Stern
